THIS DAY IN GAY HISTORY
based on: The White Crane Institute's 'Gay Wisdom', Gay Birthdays, Gay For Today, Famous GLBT, glbt-Gay Encylopedia, Today in Gay History, Wikipedia, and more …
July 6
1602 – Jérôme Duquesnoy, Belgian sculptor, born (d.1654); Flemish artist Jérôme (Hieronymus) Duquesnoy was one of the most renowned sculptors of the 17th century, but for decades after his death he was better known for his conviction and execution on charges of sodomy than for his impish yet polished style of sculpture.
Born into a Brussels family of artists at the beginning of the seventeenth century, Jérôme Duquesnoy lived his first twenty years in the shadow of his famous father, Jérôme Duquesnoy the Elder (who re-cast the famous Mannekin Pis [1619], the urinating boy that still stands as Brussels' signature fountain) and his brother François, who showed artistic promise at an early age. Like his brother he was trained in his father's studio.
After a long stay in the service of Philip IV, he traveled to Florence in 1640 and a year later settled in Rome with his brother. On Francois's death in 1643, Jérôme returned to Brussels where he carved several statues of the apostles.
He was at work on several projects at the cathedral of St. Bavon in Ghent, where his best sculptures were executed, when he was arrested for sodomy with two acolytes of the church who had served as his models. The brilliance of his work for the church notwithstanding, he was strangled then burned at the stake, a double death.
1907 – Bisexual Mexican artist Frida Kahlo has become not only an international icon for the power and intensity of her art, but also for the extraordinary suffering that she endured in life.
Born in Mexico to a German photographer and his Mexican second wife, Kahlo became a central figure in revolutionary Mexican politics and twentieth-century art.
In 1925, at the age of eighteen, Kahlo suffered appalling injuries in a streetcar accident, when she was impaled by an iron handrail smashing through her pelvis. Multiple fractures to her spine, foot, and pelvic bones meant that the rest of her life was dominated by a struggle against severe pain and disability.
Following her accident Kahlo started painting, becoming an important surrealist. Her paintings, mostly self-portraits, employ the iconography of ancient Mesoamerican cultures to depict both her physical suffering and her passion for Mexican politics and for the love of her life, Diego Rivera, whom she married in 1929.
A famous painter of heroic revolutionary murals, Rivera was much older than Kahlo and incapable of sexual fidelity. When he began an affair with her sister, Kahlo left Mexico. However, she forgave him this and other infidelities. She divorced Diego in 1940, but remarried him later the same year.
Both artists had numerous affairs. Among Kahlo’s lovers were Leon Trotsky and other men, but they also included several women. Her friend Lucienne Bloch recalled Rivera saying, “You know that Frida is a homosexual, don’t you?” But the complexity of the artists’ marriage warns against taking this statement at face value. However, Kahlo’s gay significance is greater than her few lesbian liaisons suggest or even her representations of women, some of which are extremely sapphic.
She was a master of cross-dressing, deliberately using male “drag” to project power and independence. A family photograph from 1926 shows her in full male attire.
Frida Kahlo died on July 13, 1954, soon after turning 47. A few days before her death, she wrote in her diary:“I hope the exit is joyful — and I hope never to return — Frida”. The official cause of death was given as a pulmonary embolism, although some suspected that she died from an overdose that may or may not have been accidental. An autopsy was never performed.
1916 – Harold Norse, American poet, born (né Harold Rosen d.2009); An out gay American writer who created a body of work using the idiom of everyday language and images. One of the expatriate artists of the Beat Generation, he was widely published and anthologized. Norse was born in the Bronx, New York, and grew up in Brooklyn. He attended Brooklyn College, edited the school's literary magazine, the Brooklyn College Observer, and received his B.A. in English Literature in 1938.
Memoirs of a Bastard Angel traces Norse's life and literary career with many of the most notable gay poets and writers of the 20th Century. With Carnivorous Saint: Gay Poems 1941-1976 Norse became a leading gay liberation poet. His collected poems, In the Hub of the Fiery Force, appeared in 2003. Norse was a two-time NEA grant recipient, and National Poetry Association award winner. Norse received a B.A. from Brooklyn College (1938) and an M.A. from New York University (1951).
He moved to Paris in 1960, on a tip from William Carlos Williams, who rated Norse the 'best poet of [his] generation' and at the Beat Hotel he met Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, William S. Burroughs, Brion Gysin, and others, drawn by their interest in Buddhist meditation, which Norse had recently taken up. Using the cut-up technique devised by Gysin and Burroughs, Norse wrote his experimental novel, Beat Hotel. Originally titled Sniffing Keyholes, the first chapter — which he describes as "a sex/dope scene between a muscular black youth called Melo and a blond Russian princess called Z.Z." — made even the often stoic Burroughs laugh. During his time at the Beat Hotel, Norse began creating his 'random paintings' or Cosmographs (using the hotel's bidet), which brought the attention of Paris' elite art scene.
Norse's writing began receiving major critical attention during the mid-1960's. A 1966 edition of avant-garde literary journal Ole was devoted to him. Throughout the 1960's, Norse's work appeared in the Evergreen Review, a groundbreaking American literary journal that published the Beats alongside internationally acclaimed experimental writers Samuel Beckett, Günter Grass, and Octavio Paz.
Norse returned to America in 1969 and became involved in the gay liberation movement, settling in San Francisco, where he died June 8th 2009.
1925 – The American television host and media mogul Merv Griffin born on this date also (d.2007). Griffin began his career as a radio and big band singer who went on to appear in movies and on Broadway. During the 1960s, Griffin hosted his own talk show, The Merv Griffin Show, and created the game shows Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune.
Griffin was a bit of a basket case when it came to being open about his sexuality. He denied it at times and then poked fun at it. Two same-sex palimony and sexual harassment lawsuits in 1991 brought questions about Griffin's sexuality to national prominence. In 1991, Griffin was hit with both a $200 million palimony lawsuit by former "secretary/driver/horse-trainer/bodyguard," Brent Plott, and an $11.3 million sexual harassment lawsuit from Dance Fever host "Denny" Deney Terrio.
A 2006 article in Rolling Stone magazine by John Colapinto stated:
"Merv does not refute the underlying implication in both cases: that he is gay. Nor does he admit to it. Instead, he mentions the high-profile relationship that he began with actress Eva Gabor at the time of his legal troubles. They were photographed everywhere: Atlantic City, La Quinta, Hollywood premieres. Griffin says that they discussed marriage, and he parries any direct questions about his sexual orientation. 'You're asking an eighty-year-old man about his sexuality right now!', he cries. 'Get a life!'"
But the year before he'd told the New York Times, "I tell everybody that I'm a quatre-sexual. I will do anything with anybody for a quarter."
A tell-all book by Darwin Porter "Merv Griffin: A Life in the Closet" claims:
"We met in '59 when he sang for my senior prom and the student committee paid him $500. What he made then was a far cry from the billionaire he was at the end." "He lost his virginity, to a female, that is, when Judy Garland seduced him. His first crush was Errol Flynn, whom he saw passed out naked on a couch. His roommate a year and a half was Montgomery Clift. He lived with Roddy McDowall here at the Dakota, where he introduced Eddie Fisher to Elizabeth Taylor. " "He maintained a virtual male harem and a pimp who supplied porn stars, but I don't go into his pay-for-gay guys. I keep it to his A-list dates like Rock Hudson, whom he met through Henry Wilson, Rock's agent, and who advised him to keep his sexuality quiet. And there was a young James Dean selling his sex for cash. Plus Judy Garland's 'Meet Me in St. Louis' boy next door, Tom Drake, who, by the way, ended up a used car salesman. There was Peter Lawford, Robert Walker, Gordon Scott the then-Tarzan. And lots about Merv's prolonged sexual tryst with Marlon Brando. There are his experiences at Liberace's all-male orgies." "His first encounter, a boyhood friend he grew up with, later tried writing a book about Merv. This being an era when male actors felt homosexuality was a danger to their career, lawyers shot down that book fast." "Friends who went to school with him in San Mateo say, when he was a young homosexual growing up, he was sexually molested by a priest."
Griffin died August 12, 2007 and was buried in Westwood Memorial Park beneath a tombstone that reads: "I will NOT be right back after this message."
1950 – Joe Acanfora, born in Jersey City, New Jersey, is an American educator and activist.
After graduating as valedictorian of his class from Brick Township High School, in Brick, New Jersey, Acanfora entered The Pennsylvania State University in 1968, and majored in secondary education. In his junior year, he joined, and soon thereafter became Treasurer of the Homophiles of Penn State (HOPS), a newly formed campus organization dedicated to protecting the civil and constitutional rights of homosexuals and increasing public understanding of homosexuality. When the University refused to grant official recognition to the organization, four of its members, including Acanfora, instituted legal action to compel such recognition. That action, which ultimately was successful, received considerable local publicity, in the course of which Acanfora acknowledged that he was a homosexual.
In the following years, Acanfora, now openly gay, fought to become an earth science teacher in the public schools in Pennsylvania and Maryland in the early 1970s. His fight between 1971 and 1974 over a series of transfers and dismissals by authorities from his public school teaching assignments based upon his acknowledged homosexuality involved litigation through the federal court system; expert witness court testimony on the effect of an openly gay teacher on his students; extensive media coverage, including an appearance on CBS 60 Minutes; a 'morality investigation' by the Penn State University Teacher Certification Council; and active participation of his parents in the public debate.
1966 – Glenn Scarpelli is an American former child actor and singer. He is perhaps best known for his role as Alex Handris from 1980 to 1983 on the sitcom One Day at a Time.
Born in Staten Island, New York City, New York, he is the son of long time Archie Comics artist Henry Scarpelli. (Glenn would be featured in issue #330 of Archie, dated July 1984). He attended a private Catholic school, St. Joseph Hill Academy, from kindergarten to 8th grade.
In 1977, at the age of 10, Scarpelli made his Broadway debut, appearing in the play Golda with Anne Bancroft. He returned to the stage in 1979 with the role of Richard, Duke of York in the Broadway revival of Richard III starring Al Pacino.
Scarpelli's role as Alex Handris (1980–83) on the long-running television situation comedy One Day at a Time is his most prominent. He left that sitcom to appear in the NBC sitcom Jennifer Slept Here. Other television appearances include 3-2-1 Contact, Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories, MacGyver and The Love Boat. He was also a co-host in summer 1983 of the NBC game show/human interest show Fantasy.
He released a self-titled pop album in 1983, which included the single "Get a Love On".
Scarpelli came out as gay in adulthood. He resides in Sedona, Arizona, where he and his then-partner Jude Belanger established the Sedona Now Network, a community television station, in 2003. Scarpelli and Belanger were married in California in 2008, but filed for divorce in 2012.
He has remained close friends with One Day at a Time co-stars Mackenzie Phillips and with Bonnie Franklin until her death in 2013.
1981 – Randy Rainbow is an American comedian and singer, best known for videos published on YouTube, in which he spoofs interviews with famous figures and parodies musical numbers with a political focus.
Rainbow credits his grandmother as his greatest comedic influence. In a 2017 interview with The New York Times, he recalled "It was really my grandmother who was the biggest influence because she’d talk back to the celebrities and politicians on TV. She was a combination of Joan Rivers, Elaine Stritch, Betty White, and Bea Arthur rolled into one." After dropping out of community college in his early 20s, Rainbow moved back to New York to pursue a theatrical career. It was then he began blogging and making comedic videos.
In August 2020, critics of Randy Rainbow circulated a collection of about 60 tweets posted between 2010 and 2016 on social media, highlighting his history of transphobic and racist statements. Rainbow apologized on August 20 in an interview with The Advocate.
Rainbow is openly gay and Jewish. He was born on Long Island, lived in Queens for 17 years and has been residing in Manhattan since July 2019. He has also lived in Florida, where he attended school, including community college. He has a boyfriend named Lou Phillips.
2007 – In Hungary, Gábor Szetey, a Hungarian former politician and former Secretary of State for Human Resources in the Gyurcsány government publicly declares that he's gay at the opening night of the Budapest LGBT film festival, making him the first out LGBT person in Hungarian government. He currently lives in Spain.
TODAY'S GAY WISDOM
I Am Not A Man - by Harold Norse
I am not a man. I can't earn a living, buy new things for my family. I have acne and a small peter
I am not a man. I don't like football, boxing and cars. I like to express my feelings. I even like to put my arm around my friend's shoulder.
I am not a man. I won't play the role assigned to me - the role created by Madison Avenue, Playboy, Hollywood and Oliver Cromwell. Television does not dictate my behavior.
I am not a man. Once when I shot a squirrel I swore that I would never kill again. I gave up meat. The sight of blood makes me sick. I like flowers.
I am not a man. I went to prison for resisting the draft. I do not fight when real men beat me up and call me queer. I dislike violence
I am not a man. I have never raped a woman. I don't hate blacks. I don't get emotional when the flag is waved. I do not think I should love America or leave it. I think I should laugh at it.
I am not a man. I have never had the clap.
I am not a man. Playboy is not my favorite magazine.
I am not a man. I cry when I'm unhappy.
I am not a man. I do not feel superior to women.
I am not a man. I don't wear a jockstrap.
I am not a man. I write poetry.
I am not a man. I meditate on Peace and Love.
I am not a man. I don't want to destroy you.
